Pharmaceutical rivals do not often come to the defense of the other. But after the United States Ministry of Health and Social Services finished A contract with the manufacturer of Moderna drugs to develop a vaccine against the bird flu of the mRNA, saying that “the mRNA technology remains underpinted”, the general manager of Pfizer is expressed.
“MRNA is probably the most used vaccine in the history of humanity,” CEO of Pfizer, Dr. Albert Bourla, said on Friday, noting that there were about 1.5 billion doses of mRNA vaccine against COVVI -19 administered worldwide – not to mention those of Moderna. “It is therefore extremely well tested.”
HHS said on Wednesday that it canceled at least $ 590 million in federal funding that the previous administration had granted For Moderna to use its mRNA technology to develop pandemic flu vaccines, including those against H5 avian flu viruses. The H5N1 strain A infected At least 70 people and have killed one in the United States since last year.
“We have concluded that the continuous investment in the Moderna H5N1 H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,” said a HHS spokesperson, saying: “Reality is that mRNA technology remains underpinted, and we are not going to spend the dollars of taxpayers repeating the errors of the last administration, which has been recovered from the taxpayers of the last administration, which dissipated the legitimate taxpayers repeating the errors of the last administration, which was legitimate the legitimate safety problems of the public.
Asked her response to these comments, Bourla replied: “The two are completely inaccurate.”
Friday, the chief of the pharmaceutical giant spoke with CNN while Pfizer presented new data On a medication against colorectal cancer at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, Conference in Chicago, the largest world meeting on cancer research. Pfizer’s medication has been shown to be shown to double the duration of patients with an aggressive form of colorectal cancer lived with treatment: an average of 30 months against 15 in a clinical trial.
This is a “very, very important observation,” said Bourla, noting that colorectal cancer levels, “especially among young people, soar at the moment”.
And while Pfizer makes big bets on cancer research, his CEO said that he does not withdraw the foot of the pedal with investments in vaccines either, despite a “very big gap” between society and HHS – in particular secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – On their approaches to the subject.
“Science is proven,” said Bourla. “The things they will do that will reduce, perhaps, the vaccination rates will come back to bite us.” Diseases will come back, he said, and “it won’t take up much time”.
Already, the United States lives one of its greatest measles Epidemics since the declaration of the disease were eliminated in this country in 2000, and the rates of whoopingor whooping, also increased.
The recidivism of the disease “probably means that immersed, they will have to reverse it,” said Bourla, suggesting that there will be public health efforts to increase vaccination rates in response, and “they will return to what every country in the world does”.
Bourla worked with the first Trump administration to advance the company’s COVI-19 vaccine via the Warp Speed operation in 2020, although he noted that Pfizer did not accept federal funding to support the development of vaccines, only for the purchase of vaccines afterwards.
He said that despite the gap on vaccines, “when you speak with them, including secretary Kennedy, I found several subjects in which we are surprisingly alignment.”
According to the company, adopting cancer is a key area of the agreement. Bourla quoted the decrees of President Donald Trump encompassing problems such as the fight against the exclusivity of the shorter market for pills compared to injectable drugs under the law on inflation reduction – what the industry calls “pills penalty” – Drogy reductions to hospitals in a program known under the name of 340BAnd by a meticulous examination of the role of pharmacy services managers in the pricing of medicines.
“We work to approach these things when we agree to disagree on the things that divide us,” said Bourla.
He noted that he was against the reduction of the budget of 40% of the administration for the National Institutes of Health, stressing that the United States is “the dominant scientific force in biomedical sciences at the moment, and it is because we have created this ecosystem”, in which the financing of the NIH supports academic research which can lead to new discoveries chosen by the pharmaceutical industry and carried out in drugs.
“If we break a link from this chain of this great ecosystem,” said Bourla, “it’s not good for us, and in fact, it’s a gift for our friends in China.”
Bourla has also challenged HHS actions on COVVI-19 vaccines in the past two weeks: saying that the United States and Drug Administration will change the way he approves the updated plans for people who are not in vulnerable groups and that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention No longer recommend COVVI-19 vaccines to healthy children and pregnant women.
In previous years, COVVI-19 vaccines had been updated in the same way as the seasonal influenza shots, on the basis of evidence that they generate an immune response; It is believed that clinical trials that are necessary to show the effect of a vaccine in the prevention of disease cases take too long, to be possible every season. In addition, the FDA and its advisers had previously judged that the vaccine updates sufficiently small so as not to change their security profile.
When asked if Pfizer would be able to perform clinical trials quickly enough to make the vaccines made available to everyone, not only those of vulnerable groups, Bourla said: “You raise very real concerns that we have.”
Bourla noted that the implications of changes in the Trump administration in American health agencies are not entirely clear. But “the problem is that this is not based on scientific data. It is simply based on a belief. ”
“The appropriate process has not been followed; it is not only: the secretary or someone with high-level problems, let’s say, a new rule,” he said. “You must follow a process that is opinions, experts, professional FDA staff and all of this.”
Dorit Reiss, professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, suggested That HHS ‘poor administrative procedure “by announcing the CDC updated recommendations” will be a problem “if they are challenged in court.
Does Pfizer plan to file a pursuit?
“My initial reaction is that I would prefer to find solutions but not create tensions,” replied Bourla. “But of course, if we think we have to, we will.”
Overall, the CEO stressed that he had found the administration willing to engage in discussions, noting that “we maintain a very, very narrow relationship” with the White House.
“I can’t complain not to listen to us,” said Bourla.
